~Charles M. Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa, CA~
27 April 2008
"The Kite Eating Tree"
| And that's it for the pictures.
Photo-taking is forbidden inside the museum itself. Sure,
there's a few places, but they're restricted to the entry foyer and the
outside courtyards ... you can't photograph anything in the galleries.
Although the courtyard area here was a pleasant place to sit, the museum itself was lacking anything worth remembering. I found it to be not unlike opening the Sunday paper and finding the whole paper full of Peanuts cartoons. Charming and entertaining, yes, but how long can you read Peanuts? And can't you just buy a Peanuts book and read it at your leisure? So, that's my opinion. The Charles M. Schulz Museum was a larger-than-life-size assortment of rooms dedicated to Peanuts cartoons that you would otherwise read in a book or the paper. Yes, there was a certain amount of space dedicated to "Sparky's" life and times, but ... yawn. I think there must have been a lot more to the workings of Sparky's creative genius than what was presented at the museum. Sparky loved children. The ice arena he built for the kids of the community was where he positioned his studio. I think if you want to remember Charles M. Schulz, "Sparky," you should go to the ice rink and watch the children play. I think that will give you greater insights into how Sparky viewed the world.
|
This is sad. I gotta have some pictures I can show you.
How about the airport? You good with some random airport pictures?
My Shelley took a few pics at the...
~Charles M. Schulz airport, Santa Rosa, CA~
~STs~
This is a Horizon Air Bombardier Q400 at the Charles M. Schulz Airport in Santa Rosa, California!!
This is one heck of a cool Grandpa arriving for Davie's 6th birthday.
This is a helicopter in flight.
Things to see at the Charles M. Schulz Museum would include but are not limited to:
An introductory video about the creation of the Museum in the Video Nook.
Programs, documentaries and cartoons in the theater.
"Morphing Snoopy" bas relief sculpture and ceramic tile mural by Yoshi Otani in the Great Hall.
Original Peanuts comic strips and other original Schulz art.
Re-creation of Schulz' studio.
Schulz' timeline and biographical material.
Nursery wall painted by Schulz in his Colorado home (which he did not like
and was probably glad
to see the next generation of homeowners paint over it but
someone else decided to unmask it
and immortalize it in the museum ~ Sparky is
probably rolling over in his grave).
The Kite-Eating Tree (the tree, the kite, and the positioning of the kite in the tree look nothing like the cartoon strips).
A shimmering drinking fountain!
Things to do at the Charles M. Schulz Museum:
Walk the Snoopy Labyrinth; an outdoor plant arrangement in the shape of Snoopy's face.
Browse through scrapbooks of personal letters, photographs and articles ...
add your own message
(interpretation: none of these articles are Schulz'
work ~ they're guest submissions of appreciation).
Create your own cartoons, use a zoetrope (okay, my family enjoyed this room).
Visit the Museum Store (where you can buy a book instead of walking through the museum).
See Sparky's personal library.
Things to learn at the Charles M. Schulz Museum:
The exhibit "From Krazy Kat to Snoopy" illustrates how the work of early
cartoonists,
including Milt Caniff and Bill Mauldin, influenced Schulz.
Charlie Brown and Snoopy were featured on the cover of Life magazine in 1967.
Exhibitions of Peanuts strips opened at the Musee du Louvre in Paris, France in 1990.
Schulz was a prolific reader whose tastes ranged from Dr. Spock to Dr. Seuss.
Note: all of the above information was gleaned from a handout they hand
out at the Museum entrance.
Except for my personal comments,
italicized within parenthesis.
My hobbies include writing poetry about the faeries, elves, gnomes, mermaids and magic of the Sebastopol, Bodega Bay, Sonoma County area.
I wrote Nude Tea which is available at online bookstores like Barnes and Nobles.
My
44 Summer Stories are available at WildChildPublishing.com
